A Different Kind of Soft
by Kann1326
Summary: *Strong Language* Elowen "Ellie" Tate is from the southern part of the US but moves up to Letterkenny to help her aging grandpa with his farm that she use to visit in the summers when she was younger. She had been friends with Katy and Wayne since she was younger, always having stayed in touch, mainly with Katy. Starts in a little before Season One.
1. One: Not Entirely New

A bright red truck pulled up to the end of the lane, in front of the produce stand. The three men by the produce stand stood and looked at the truck, waiting to see who would step out. As the door to the truck open, before they could see anyone step out, Katy flew out of the house with a happy squeal and tackled the person driving the truck.

"It's so good to see you Ellie-bird!" Katy smiled, pulling a petite girl with wild red hair out of the truck. The girl threw her head back and gave a throaty laugh, hugging the taller brunette. Katy drug her childhood friend over to her brother and his friends.

"Hey Wayne." The red head nodded at the stoic man. "Hello Ellie. How're ya now?" He nodded back. "Good n' you?" She replied in the slang she learned years ago. "Not so bad." He stood and ruffled her hair like he use to when she was younger.

"Ellie, you remember Daryl right?" Katy pointed to the man in blue coveralls who gave the girls a nod. "Yeah a bit." She shrugged a shoulder and they turned to the burly man in the group. "That's Dan. We call him squirrely Dan. Don't ask." Katy waved in his direction and the man nodded to them.

"Well Katy-cat, not much seems to have changed except y'all's age." The red head gave a smirk, putting her hands into the pockets of her denim cutoffs, her thick southern accent slipping out. Around that time a red jeep pulled up the lane, stopping beside her truck.

"That's Reilly and Jonesy." Katy stated as two typical jock looking men in tank tops and board shorts, one with shoulder length dirty blonde hair and one brunette with shorter hair, jumped out of the jeep and headed for Katy. "Those things yours?" Ellie smirked, cocking an eyebrow at her friend. "Yeah. It's great, right?" She asked, going off with the two boys that stared at her until they were out of the driveway.

"So boys, how's about a beer?"

•••••

"So, Ellie, what're ya doin' here?" Daryl asked, taking a swig of his puppers beer as the small redhead lounged in Katy's typical spot. "Well ya know ol' man Walker? That's my gandpappy. His health's slowly goin' south and since I was the only person unattached back home, I packed myself and my hound up to come help." Ellie shrugged as the trio exchanged looks.

"You're getting help doin' chorin' right?" Dan asked, looking genuinely concerned with the thought of this small girl running a farm by herself. "Oh absolutely darlin'. Grandpappy wouldn't be havin' me doin' it without help. A few hands here and there. It's all going good." Ellie waved his concern away, smiling all the same, taking a sip of her own beer.

She had never had this kind before, but it wasn't bad. Ellie didn't care much for the beers back home. "Ya know, Ellie comes from a town with less people than Letterkenny." Wayne spoke, opening a conversation about her hometown. "Really? Well what is there to do there?" Daryl asked, confusion clear on his face.

"A whole lotta nothin'. Most people there either do meth or hangout at the only gas station that's open all night." She shrugged, a scowl on her face. "Lost a whole lotta decent people to meth. They were promised a helluva lot only to get sucked into a life of pain." Ellie stated angrily, the others shifting in their seats. "Yeah, we've gotta skid problem here too." Dan nodded, becoming more and more confused by this girl.

"Have you even grown any since I saw ya last?" Wayne joked in his monotone-like voice. "I'm a whole five foot now, thank ya very much." Ellie stuck her tongue out at him, rolling her eyes. "Yes and you're how old? Fourteen?" He joked again, the other two listening in curiously. How was it that he was still such good friends with this girl that they barely know and hasn't been in town for at least seven years, if not longer. "I'm twenty six you ass." Ellie snorted, quite unladylike, and took another swig of the beer that was growing on her.

"Oh, so you're the same age as Katy." Daryl chimed in, curious about the girl her only has one fuzzy memory of. "Yeah, it's what made pappy decide to send me over here to make friends when I was nine. Figured Katy and I would get along." She nodded, smiling at the fond memory.

•••••

"Gail. This is Ellie, mine and Katy's old friend." Wayne introduced her to the woman bartending at the bar they walked into, Modean's. Gail made a hushed comment to Wayne, Ellie not paying attention and looking around. She sat at the edge on the other side of Wayne, not wanting to break the boys apart.

Before she could even sip the beer offered, Katy came in, Jonesy and Rielly trailing behind her. Katy grabbed ahold of her arm and pulled her over to a table with them. Ellie barely had enough time to grab her beer. "So, Ellie, having fun?" Katy smirked as the boys went to go get themselves and her a drink.

"Ya left me with your brother and his friends for a whole day. It wasn't bad surprisingly, but it has been enough." Ellie stated as Katy laughed at her statement. "Well that's my big brother for you." Katy smiled, taking a drink of the beer the boys brought back for her. The four of them sat and talked for a bit.

Suddenly Jonesy and Rielly stood up quickly, their chairs scraping the floor violently. They started an argument with a group of men that just walked in, all dressed in black jeans and black shirts. "Skids. That's Stewert. Devon and Roald. Those two are Darien and Conner but they never really talk." Katy pointed to each as she named them. "Oh. What's your boys' problem with them?" Ellie asked, watching the arguing in front of her.

Katy shrugged as her boyfriends started off closer to the group of so called skids. Ellie rolled her eyes with a snort. "This is ridiculous." She stated, standing up herself. She went to move between the two groups but Wayne stopped her with a hand on her shoulder and a shake of his head. "Oh come on now. They're blocking the exit." She pointed out, making the two groups stare at her.

"Make them at least take this outside Wayne!" Ellie complained to him, aware of what transpired with Angie, just hopeful that he was back to his regular self.

Wayne only walked away.


	2. Two: Red and Orange Popsicles

A week had went by and Ellie and Wayne were back to normal. He had forgiven her fairly easily, seeing as how she apologized the next day with a pack of puppers and homemade cookies. Dan and Daryl had watched her friendship with Wayne and Katy and decided it was a good one, almost like she was family.

"How is it you're great friends with Wayne and Katy but I don't really remember or know you?" Daryl asked Ellie, having been their childhood friend too. " I was only here a month or so out of the year and, well, I was quite the shy kid. They knew that and didn't really pressure me to make other friends. They let me know when someone else was coming over and I'd leave. I'm pretty sure we only met once, at sixteen." Ellie shrugged, sitting to Wayne's right as they all sat by the produce stand.

"I thought that's were I knew you from! You were the girl that slammed a door into my face and gave me a bloody nose!" Daryl smiled as if he figured something out. Ellie threw her head back and laughed, Wayne and Katy joining in. "I didn't mean to! In my defense, you startled me!" Ellie defended herself, laughter still on her lips as they calmed down.

It was shaping up to be a great day.

•••••

Ellie decided to take her Irish Wolfhound, Bran, out for a walk around town. Everyone openly stared at the girl walking a dog that was almost half her height while on all fours and wearing a black spiked color. She decided to go to a convenience store to grab a bag of ice pops, or as she called them, popsicles.

It was a fairly warm day and she decided to treat the boys and Katy with the icey snack. She purchased a fairly large bag and left the store, noticing out of the corner of her eye that the group her friend's called the skids were dancing outside.

She stopped for a bit to watch them dance, confused by why they were doing so. The one that seemed to be the leader, Stewart, avoided eye contact with her. The others followed suit and pretended she wasn't there. With a shrug, Ellie continued on her way.

What a strange town.

•••••

"Hello boys. Brought you all a treat!" Ellie greated the trio with a smirk as Rielly and Jonesy pulled up for Katy. Having stopped by the house to put up Bran, she went straight over to Katy and Wayne's afterwards. "Hey! Katy! Come grab you and your boys one!" The blue eyed girl called to her childhood friend before she was able to get into the jeep.

"Whatcha got there?" She asked as Ellie pulled the popsicles out of the cooler she had stuffed them in inside her truck. "Whatever the hell y'all call these up here." Ellie laughed, motioning to them. Katy gave a smile, shaking her head, and grabbed three of them. She hauled herself into the jeep and they took off.

"Well boys, want one?" She offered again, quirking an eyebrow at them. "Yeah, okay." Daryl got up and grabbed one. "Haven't had one of these since I was a kid." Daryl giggled, taking a bite. Wayne and Dan both took one too, unsure. Ellie rolled her eyes at their scrunched up faces and pulled out a red popsicle of her own.

•••••

With lips stained red, Ellie gave a grunt as her and the boys reached the last of the popsicles and puppers beer. With an exasperated sigh she settled for an orange popsicle, having ate all of the red ones.

"I'll make the run boys. You all owe me." Ellie stated, grabbing her keys and wallet. "We appreciates you." Dan smiled at the petite girl as she got up. "Y'all better." The girl grumbled, giving a smile, her thick southern accent becoming more and more noticeable the longer she was in town.

As she pulled up to the store she noticed that the skids were still there. Without paying them much attention she went into the store. After a while she noticed that three of them were following her. Devon, Roald, and Stewart. Her shoulders tensed as they finally approached her, whispering to each other.

When they reached her, Stewart cleared his throat. "My friend, Roald likes dogs. He has a question for you." Stewart pushed Roald forward, who squeaked as if frightened. Ellie gave her best friendly smile and motioned to go ahead.

"What's your dog's name?" Roald asked quietly, not looking her in the eyes. "His name is Bran." Ellie cheerfully replied, wondering if that was all. "Bran? Like the muffins?" Devon scoffed, rolling his eyes at her. Ellie's smile dropped.

"No. Bran like the Celtic god of the underworld. I need to get going." She coolly replied and grabbed her stuff. She left them in the isle to go check out. She watched them leave out of the corner of her eye, whispering harshly amongst themselves.

Such strange people.

•••••

"All right boys. Who's ya favorite?" Ellie asked, dropping the puppers beer and popsicles off into the cooler beside Wayne. The trio only smiled while grabbing a puppers and popsicle each. They resumed talking and before long the sun started to set, all the popsicles gone again.

Rielly, Jonesy, and Katy pulled up and Katy hopped out, joining them in sitting in front of the produce stand. As Rielly and Jonesy pulled off Katy turned to Ellie, who had moved to sit in a chair beside Wayne. "I don't know why you're making friends with these boys." Katy threw her a teasing smile, grabbing herself a beer.

Ellie only smiled and shrugged. "They seem to be the most relatively normal group in this town." She chuckled, thinking back to her encounter at the store "You're not wrong." Katy nodded, making a face of understanding. "I rarely am." Ellie remarked, her voice teasing.

"You having a good stay?" Wayne turned to ask, as monotone as ever. "Yeah. Things are good it seems. I enjoy being here. Thinking of moving here permanently." Ellie waved it off, not interested in herself. "Really? You might stay forever?" Katy asked excitedly, not about to let her gloss over this.

"Yeah. Sure. I like it here, so why not?" Ellie raised an eyebrow to Katy. Katy gave a squeal and started rambling about a party. "Yeah, because I love to party." Ellie snorted, taking a gulp of her beer. "Don't be a poopy pants." Katy scolded as the boys decided they were on board with the party idea.

"Yeah. This should be fun." Ellie rolled her eyes, not fond of the idea at all. She was only willing to go through with it because it seemed like her friends, old and new, needed a bit of a break. They needed some fun. If there was one thing about Ellie you could count on, it was that she'd go out of her way for her friends.

So a party would be happening.


	3. Three: Parties are Rough

The boys and Ellie decided to stay out of Katy's way and let her do most of the party planning. They would just do whatever they were told, for everyone's own good. Katy was very set in how she wanted the party and who was Ellie, or the boys, to get in the way? Since Ellie didn't care for parties she figured it couldn't hurt to let one of her best friends take charge anyway.

"You haven't said if you want cake." Katy said, thumbing through her notebook full of plans at the kitchen table. It was just the two girls this late afternoon. The boys had gone off to Modean's and Katy had dragged the redhead into party planning before she could even decide to tag along.

"Is this even a cake kind of party?" Ellie asked, picking up one of the several cookbooks scattered across the table. "It could be!" Katy grinned while going over the guest list she made. Katy had decided that inviting everyone was only right, seeing as how Ellie only knew them and needed to meet everyone.

"Well, you're not wrong. I figured we'd do basic non-birthday type of party stuff." Ellie shook her head at her friend, not to into this party stuff. "So junk food and beer?" Katy nodded, mostly to herself. "That could work." The burnette mumbled, causing Ellie to give a small smile at her friend.

•••••

"It could be worse." Ellie mumbled to herself, eyeing the setup Katy had going in her backyard. Katy had dragged the redhead there to look at everything for that night before she went to get dressed. Different shades of blue decorations were scattered about, tables and chair set up. There was a table set up for chips, dip, and other sorts of party food with a few coolers around it to be filled with beer and water bottles.

It wasn't bad, she just couldn't understand why there was decorations. She voiced that thought, continuing to look around. "I thought it'd be fun! Blue is your favorite color after all!" Katy let some childlike joy shine through and Ellie let it go. So what if her friend wanted to have balloons and streamers floating around just for fun? If it made her happy then Ellie couldn't bring herself to care to much.

"Looks good. What do you think I should wear tonight?" Ellie sat down, Katy smiling at her friends approval on the party set up. "You should go for casual but hot." Katy stated, not even noticing Ellie pull a face. The shorter girl was not as style savvy so that advice ment nothing. She decided she'd just focus on the casual part.

"You should go get ready now!" Katy noticed the time and started pushing her friend towards her truck. With a laugh, Ellie agreed. "All right. All right. I'm going!" She gave a lopsided grin and got into her truck, "Thanks for doing this Katy."

"Thanks for tolerating me doing this!" Katy laughed, knowing how Ellie wasn't one much for parties. Ellie only shrugged, smiling, and drove off, letting Katy get to doing the final touches on the party before getting dressed herself.

•••••

"I can't believe you agreed to this." Daryl almost whispered to Ellie as she arrived in the backyard, people already showing up. "Makes her happy. She likes parties." Ellie grinned, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her dark wash skinny jeans. He smiled and shook his head as Wayne joined them standing off to the side, puppers in hand.

"Katy invited everyone she could think of. Should be fun." Wayne stated, glancing at Ellie. It was no secret to him that she didn't like parties at all, almost hated them. He also knew that she just let Katy do it since it made her happy. Ellie was a good friend to have.

"Well, at least you got the casual part." Katy laughed as her and Dan walked up to the group, Katy eyeing Ellie's outfit. Skinny jeans, a faded band shirt, and black converse. Ellie only shrugged with a smile, taking a puppers that Dan offered. "Well let's introduce you to everyone." Katy took Ellie by her arm and dragged her away.

•••••

"Hey Stewart." Katy smiled at the young man as him and his friends crowded around the snack table. "Katy. New girl." He nodded at the duo, eyeing Ellie uneasily. She gave a small smile, trying to be friendly. The group just awkwardly stood around, no one really knowing what to say.

"Well, guys, this is Ellie. Ellie, I've already told you who is who." Katy figured introductions would be a good place to start. Better than the awkward silence they were in. "Nice to meet you." Stewart replied, almost as if he was instructed to since it didn't seem as if he cared to much. "Uh, yeah." Ellie shuffled her feet, feeling out of place.

"I'll leave you to mingle." Katy's smile seemed mischievous to Ellie but she let it slide. There was no telling what the girl was up to. "What band is on your shirt?" Devon asked after some more awkward silence. "Oh! It's A.f.i. They're not very popular, at least in my home town, but I love them. They were one of the first bands I really got into." Ellie gave a genuine smile, seeming to light up talking about what she considered a safe topic.

"What genre are they?" He raised an eyebrow, almost coming off as pretentious. "Uh. Alternative, I guess." She shrugged, still smiling. "What other genres do you like?" Stewart jumped in on the conversation too, Roald just avoiding eye contact still. "I mainly listen to rock and metal but typically if I like it, I listen to it." Ellie replied easily, relaxing slightly.

Before anyone could say anything else, Katy came by and dragged her away without any warning. Ellie gave out a laugh and went with it. She was introduced to a lot more people and she tried to take it in stride. By the end of the night, she was so tired. Since everyone was leaving they all decided to start cleaning up.

As soon as the last person left Katy slid up to Ellie, who was bagging up the last of the trash. "I got something for you." Katy smiled as Ellie sat down the trash. The redhead looked nervously at her taller friend. "Close your eyes!" Katy demanded and Ellie complied. Before she knew it, Ellie was being showered with confetti. She opened her eyes, unamused as peices of blue, silver, pink, and purple shiny bits rained over her.

"I ain't cleaning that up." She deadpanned in her thick southern accent as Katy roared with laughter, Wayne and the others quickly following suit. Ellie couldn't frown for long and was soon laughing with the others, shaking confetti out of her hair.

•••••

Ellie quietly slipped into the house she shared with her grandfather, not wanting to wake him up. Even if it wasn't that late, only 9 at night, she knew he'd be asleep. His health was a bit better since his last stay in the hospital a few months ago but he still had very little energy. They had ate supper together at 5 so she knew he had gotten his meal.

She was the only one, out of his five children and twelve grandchildren that was willing to come help him. The others said they were to busy. They had work. They had lives. Ellie quit her job and moved in with him as soon as she could, remembering the sweet old man that would let her come around in her childhood summers, and wanted nothing more than to help him.

She knew the basics of his farm and was continuing to learn more so she could help more. She was a bit angry at her family for not wanting to help. She could understand her older cousins with school aged children not wanting to uproot their kids but she knew there were plenty that could have done as she did.

She got dressed for bed, knowing she'd need to be up early to make breakfast. With a sigh, she flopped back onto her bed. Parties exhausted her. At least it made her friends happy and she met some knew people. Maybe that would make her move here easier.

Either way, parties were rough on her and she would need some coffee in the morning.


	4. Four: Bar Fights and Lazy Nights

Ellie had been busy the past few days, but she knew something was going on. She had heard about Wayne getting into a fight at Modean's while she had been home with her grandfather. She was glad that he was getting back to being himself. What had her worried though, was talk going around town that he was going to fight whoever needed to take back his "toughest guy in Letterkenny" title.

It was plain stupid, fighting without someone on standby to patch you up. Ellie was borderline furious when she finally wasn't busy and she stopped by to check on everyone, seeing Wayne with bruised knuckles. She only scoffed and told him to let her know next time and she'd bring something to help with that. She wasn't going to make a big deal this time, she warned all of them though. Next time, she better be close by to help fix them up.

The trio of men only nodded, embarrassed about being chastised by a small woman who barely came to their shoulders. "Well. Now that's all over, wanna celebrate?" Ellie drawled, plopping down in the lawn chair by Wayne that was unofficially hers now. Daryl and Dan felt themselves doing a double take, mouths slightly open in surprise. The two really hadn't expected that after being reprimanded.

Wayne had a slight smirk, remembering how she is. "There's no need to celebrate now, Ellie-bird." Wayne stated, taking a sip of his beer. Ellie only nodded, not going to force him into anything. "Would you at least like for me to make cookies or a cake?" She grinned, knowing very well that he loved her baking.

"I don't think I would turn away some cookies." Wayne gave a nod, the other two agreeing. They all agreed, her baking is the best.

"You're thinking about gettin' back into dating? Good for you!" Ellie smiled at Wayne, happy for him. She had come over to Wayne and Katie's place to drop off some cookies, overhearing the conversation as she walked into the kitchen she couldn't help but chime in with her opinion.

"Everyone suggests I should." Wayne mumbled, looking like he didn't really care either way. "Well, do what ya want. Obviously no one can force ya." Ellie snorted at the unsure look on her old friends face. Katie was most likely the one to suggest he start dating again and it definitely showed with her expression at Ellie's words.

Wayne gave the girl a nod, grateful at least one friend was on his side with the others in the room pushing him to start dating again. It was one of the several things he appreciated about her. As long as you were happy and not being stupid, Ellie would support you completely and wouldn't push on something that made you uncomfortable.

"Wayne went to what now?" Ellie just had to ask Katie repeat herself. "Some weird singles thing down at the church the other night." Katie smirked, taking a swig of her beer, amusement clear on her face. Ellie had a similar expression, wondering what he was thinking.

The two girls were spending some time together, gossiping and eating junk food. A true girls night. They had missed spending time together and thought this was a good way to bond some more, holed up in Ellie's bedroom with a TV in front of them and bad horror movies playing.

Ellie knew the other's had been talking to him about it since before the bar fight but this was the first she was hearing about this incident. "I'm guessing he didn't have any luck." Ellie snorted, the image of Wayne at a church for a singles party just to strange to imagine. "Nope." Katie smiled, glad her only girl friend was back.

"I can't believe I'm just hearing about this!" Ellie was practically pouting, hating being left out of the loop. "You've been busy." Katie shrugged, picking at Ellie's dark blue comforter from her spot on the bed, sitting cross legged in front of Ellie who was laying on her stomach. "I know. I'm still not use to this big change." Ellie sighed, burying her face into the bed.

"You seem to be doing good. You've even gained some muscle." Katie joked, not wanting the atmosphere to take the sad turn it was bound to take if they dwelled on everything. Ellie gave a loud laugh, head back and eyes crinkled. "Maybe one day I can take on Wayne in a fight!" The red head suggested. Katie snorted, not even dignifying the ridiculous statement with a response.

The two carried on joking and laughing well into the night. By the time midnight rolled around they were on a movie they barely remembered putting in and the snacks were getting low. They hadn't spent so much time together since they were teenagers. It was nice.

With the lights off and the TV being the only light source, they were getting tired. "I remember. I remember one day, we were maybe seven or something, and your mom had put you in this green sundress. You hated it so much. We stayed outside all day trying to ruin it. You rolled around in mud until your hair was caked in the stuff and it was smudged all over your face. It was one of my favorite days." Katie yawned, remembering that hot summer day after it had rained all day before fondly.

"It didn't even ruin it. I got in so much trouble for trying though. Grandpappy tried not to show it but he found it funny. He even went out and bought me some good work jeans and told my mom it was to help him out doing yard work." Ellie giggled, the girls leaning together, half asleep. "The year after that you didn't have any more dresses, so I guess it worked." Katie snorted, recalling the look of glee on Ellie's face when she came over that summer, proudly stating that she didn't have to wear dresses anymore.

"I'm pretty sure that was Grandpappy's doin'. That was a few years after Ma died and he was lonely. Convinced my mom that dresses didn't help on the farm and he needed me coming around." Ellie stated as Katie's breathing evened out. She had fallen asleep.

With a quiet laugh and a roll of her eyes, Ellie turned the TV off and closed her eyes to go to sleep herself. She had enjoyed the company. Being away had been tough. Ellie wasn't one to make friends easily, so she was glad that she had the chance to come back.

It was almost like nothing had changed.


End file.
